Andrew Gwynne MP - | Government slammed as Tameside youth unemployment surges

Government slammed as Tameside youth unemployment surges

Young people At Prime Ministers Questions, Andrew has urged David Cameron to reinstate a youth focused jobs programme in Tameside after some shock figures from the House of Commons Library showed the numbers of 16-24 year olds in the borough who are not in employment, education or training had risen by 70% in a year.

Andrew Gwynne MP said:

“We urgently need something done quickly to help reduce youth unemployment. As I said in my question to the Prime minister, last year youth unemployment in Tameside stood at an unacceptable 20%, that’s one in five of our young people. Today it stands at 34%, a shockingly high figure.”

“This marks a 70% increase in just one year, of young people who aren’t in employment, education or training. I want to know why the government had scrapped things that helped such as the Future Jobs Fund, which previously helped over 700 young Tamesiders into work, and the Educational maintenance Allowance, which made college an option too.”

“Labour’s five point plan for jobs and growth would help get 100,000 young people back into work up and down the country - paid for with a sensible and fair tax on bankers’ bonuses. Sadly David Cameron and George Osborne don’t seem to understand that more people on the dole – claiming benefits rather than paying taxes – will just make it harder to get the deficit down.”